Toxoplasma gondii is the cat-borne parasite responsible for causing toxoplasmosis and a host of other problems in humans. This close relative of the malaria-causing protozoan may drive human behavior and immunity, in addition to causing acute illness and devastating birth defects. Recent research points to a single gene underlying this parasite’s virulence in the human host. It’s scary yet fascinating to think that a single gene from a single organism could have such dramatic effects on our species.

Warning pregnant women away from litter boxes

Because T. gondii infection can result in serious fetal defects, many pregnant women have heard of toxoplasmosis, an illness that often goes unnoticed in the afflicted person. Pregnant women are warned away from cat litter boxes and even away from gardening because contact with cat feces can mean contact with the parasite. T. gondii spends the sexual part of its life cycle in cats, but for its asexual life, it can parasitize a number of hosts, from pigs to lambs to mice to people. People also can acquire the infection from eating undercooked meat or drinking contaminated water. In some countries, like Brazil, up to 60% of the population has been exposed to T. gondii; in the United States, about 33% of people tested have antibodies to the parasite, indicating past infection.

Link between parasite and schizophrenia

The “crazy cat lady” has practically become a social stereotype in the United States and other countries, conjuring the image of a woman who lives with 25 cats and talks to herself a lot. But researchers investigating schizophrenia have actually identified a potential link between people who are exposed to Toxoplasma infection and the manifestations of schizophrenia; for example, several studies have identified higher levels of antibodies to the parasite in people with schizophrenia, and infection with Toxoplasma can cause damage to brain cells that is similar to the damage seen in patients with schizophrenia. Toxoplasmosis can also sometimes lead to symptoms of psychosis.

The fact is that most people don’t know they have toxoplasmosis because they have healthy immune systems. In people with compromised immunity, however, such as those with HIV, T. gondii can precipitate an extreme form of dementia that eventually kills them. The dementia is so severe that the sufferer eventually becomes completely unaware of his or her surroundings and lapses into a coma. The bug, however, also can affect the central nervous system in healthy people and is also linked to severe eye problems even in patients who are not immunocompromised. One researcher has claimed that infection with the parasite makes men dumber and women act like “sex kittens.”

ROP18: Watch out for this one

There are different strains of T. gondii, and investigators have noted that the Type 1 strain is most closely associated with disease. Studies of T. gondii, which has a genome with about 6000 genes, have pinpointed the virulence capacity of the strain to a single gene, dubbed ROP18. This gene encodes a kinase, one of a huge class of cell signaling proteins that add phosphates to molecules. Typically in cell signaling, kinases exist in a series, phosphorylating the next protein in the pathway, which helps maintain regulation of the signaling. The most virulent T. gondii strains have a form of the gene that differs from that carried by benign strains. Researchers speculate that this kinase interferes with a cell’s normal signaling, hijacking it for its own purposes, including growth and reproduction. The good news is that because kinases are so important in cell signaling, pharmaceutical companies have developed libraries of molecules that inhibit specific kinases, so one potential path to preventing toxoplasmosis is to discover an inhibitor of ROP18.

Rats get a little nutty from it, too

Not only has this parasite been linked to the ability to alter human behavior, but it also appears to alter rodent behavior in ways that favor its own reproduction. For example, rodents exposed to toxoplasma via cat feces actually become more likely to hang out near cat urine. If a cat eats the infected animal, the toxoplasmosis bug can then move into the sexual phase of its life cycle in the cat.